Investment pledges up 98%

The total value of investment pledges approved by the Board of Investments surged by 98 percent in the first seven months of the year to P210.37 billion, driven by big-ticket energy and infrastructure projects.

According to the BOI, these investment commitments will be poured into 192 projects, which can generate about 37,487 new jobs at full operation.

BOI data showed that the biggest investments were for the projects of Limay Premier Power Corp.; GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp.; Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), and the renewable energy projects of Bayog Wind Power Corp. and Cordillera Hydro Electric Power Corp. The Bayog facility has a generating capacity of 150 megawatts while the Cordillera Hydro can generate 60 MW.

The BOI said that compared to the same period last year, the value of investments for energy projects for 2016 surged by 325 percent, accounting for 51 percent of the total approvals in January to July.

Other sectors that generated fresh investments included construction, mass housing, manufacturing, and the transportation and storage sector.

Major manufacturing sub-sectors included food products; motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers; fabricated metal products; leather and other related products; and wearing apparel.

According to the BOI, Region 3 got the highest investments pledges worth P44.32 billion, or a 21-percent share to total approved investments, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with committed investments worth P37.05 billion.

Singapore topped the list of investment sources in the first seven months with investments worth P9.83 billion, followed by the Netherlands; South Korea; Japan; and the British Virgin Islands.

“Investments coming in are in sectors that will elevate our competitiveness such as power and infrastructure. Dispersion of investments in the region had also changed.  NCR usually receives the highest amount of investments, but now, investments are dispersed as other regions take the lead in attracting more investments,” said Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino S. Rodolfo.

Trade Secretary and BOI Chair Ramon Lopez said the BOI was expecting further growth in investment pledges on the back of sound economic fundamentals and sustained investor confidence.

“While confidence in the economy remains, with investments continuing to pour in, the government is pursuing a number of strategic investment policy and promotion initiatives in a bid to further strengthen its efforts in attracting a massive flow of domestic and foreign investments in the country particularly those that would bring in new technology,” Lopez said.

To achieve these,  Lopez said the government would pursue the synchronization of investment promotion efforts of all investments promotion agencies (IPAs) to support Philippine branding.